Julian Burnside skewers Abbot in this opinion piece. How embarrassing that Burnside, a principled atheist or agnostic, should demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of such a public Catholic.

It is not surprising that Mr Abbott has a view about the moral dimension of refugee issues. It is entirely appropriate that he should consider the matter from the perspective of Christian teaching, given that he trained for the priesthood. I would go so far as to say that more politicians should pay attention to the moral implications of the policies they have to determine.

What is striking is that Mr Abbott could get the matter so spectacularly wrong, both as to the facts and as to the moral equation.